Calm Fall Day on Highland Lake, Bridgton, Maine

LEA’s GLEON buoy on Highland Lake 

text and photos by Leigh Macmillen Hayes

Recently, I had the good fortune to join the Lakes Environmental Association crew as they pulled their GLEON buoy from Highland Lake.

GLEON is an acronym for Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network, consisting of lake and technology scientists from all over the world who are trying to understand global change and human impacts on lake environments.

LEA has been and continues to conduct traditional bi-weekly water quality tests on the lake, but the sensors attached on and below this buoy capture conditions every 15 minutes. 

A solar-powered computer inside the buoy records measurements of algae levels, water temperature, dissolved oxygen and clarity, which are transmitted to LEA via a cell signal phone. 

From April through November, the buoy has been deployed in the deepest spot of the lake to collect these measurements. 

This allows Assistant Director Colin Holme and Researcher Amanda Pratt the ability to watch the effects of weather events, such as rain storms and wind that may stir up nutrients in the depths of the lake and cause algal blooms or add more oxygen to the water column. 

“Over the summer I saw several spikes in algae concentrations that were coupled with minor mixing events,” stated Holme. “With the data we are getting from the buoy, we can observe this kind of real time water quality information and this will help us make better management and policy decisions about the lake and watershed.”

Additionally, Holme and Pratt can make a connection to the greater world as they compare what is going on in Highland Lake with what’s happening in other lakes around the globe.

All of this would not be possible without funding from an anonymous foundation and lakefront residents. 

Not only is collaboration important for funding and sharing of knowledge, but also for deploying, maintaining and hauling out the heavy and awkward buoy. To do this job, LEA turned to Seth Merriam and Great Northern Docks in Naples.

Merriam’s team custom fit a Dura-LITE aluminum dock across two pontoons LEA had purchased, creating a back platform to hold passengers and equipment, including a hand-cranked crane. Carpeted catwalks were installed over the front portion of the pontoons, leaving an opening between them. This allows the LEA crew to safely access the buoy from either side of the boat. 

Merriam joined Holme and another LEA employee, Christian Oren, for the maiden voyage of the boat last week, while Pratt and I followed in LEA’s testing skiff to document the event. 

It didn’t take long to reach the buoy, straddle it with the new boat and hook it to the crane, but the process of shutting down the system and detaching all the sensors required meticulous hand work in frigid water for well over an hour. 

Once the below-surface apparatus was detached and pulled onto the deck, Merriam operated the crank while Holme and Oren guided the buoy onboard and set it into a wooden crate. 

The job wasn’t complete until the large white buoys attached to the mooring that acted like sentry’s for the $40,000 GLEON buoy, were substituted with placeholders for the winter months. 

Back on land, the buoy and boat have been cleaned and stored until spring. 

In the meantime, Holme and Pratt will assess the collected data and make it available at mainelakes.org so we can all learn more about limnology and better understand the factors that contribute to water quality issues. 

To learn more about lakefront properties for sale on Highland Lake, click on the green box above. 

To learn more about Highland Lake and Bridgton, Maine, check out the blog links below. 

Enjoy Lakefront Living on Highland Lake in Bridgton, Maine

Steps from Highland Lake, Bridgton, Maine: It’s Bridgton Books

Bridgton Highlands Country Club a Favorite of Highland Lake Lovers